We Heart Music

British singer, songwriter, musician, and producer Jack Garratt recently released a new song called "The Love You're Given" to all digital retailers. The song sampled the voice of acclaimed vocalist Lisa Fischer (20 Feet From Stardom) â€¦

NYC duo MS MR came to Minneapolis â€œfor the first time as a band and as peopleâ€ ...and â€˜rocked it like a â€˜Hurricaneâ€™. â€˜Hurricaneâ€™, of course, refers to their infectious single of the same nameâ€¦

Here are some concerts taking place in the Minneapolis/St Paul area from August 8 to August 9, 2015.

British singer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Jack Garratt is currently on tour with Mumford and Sons, but on his off days with the massive band, he's booked a few smaller side gigs - including one at 7th Street Entry on Saturday, August 8th.

We've already mentioned Garratt when we spotlighted him at this year's SXSW so we're pretty excited to get this great opportunity to check out this one-man show at this tiny venue in Downtown Minneapolis.

Also, the 8th Annual Pizza Luce Block Party is this Saturday, August 14th. I've been to a few of these, they only promise a few things: pizza, brats, beer, and music. What more are you asking for ? ....

Washington, DC's Ex Hex returned to Minneapolis on Monday night (July 20th) at the Triple Rock Social Club; currently touring in support of their debut album Rips (Merge Records).

Pink Mink

Starting the 'triple rock' off right was local Pink Mink who wore their reds & blues from their previous appearance at "D4th of July" show. They had such a blast at that show, that according to singer Arzu (in the blue dress), after the event, she "slept for two days straight."

The two primary songwriters (who traded vocals on different songs) have different subject matters when they write songs, Christy (in the red dress) writes sweet "songs about the city", while Arzu writes "really depressing songs."

The trio played fast punk rock music... not too dissimilar to Arzu's previous band Selby Tigers, who we saw with The Donnas in 2001.

Tweens

Cincinnati's Tweens were full of anger and energy ... and they seemed like a lot of fun to hang out with. Most of the vocals were handled by singer/guitarist Bridget Battle, in her Butthole Surfers T-Shirt, would often thrash/head bang throughout the faster songs.

The band didn't talk much in their set, but they didn't have to, most of the audience was there for the headliner... but some of them quickly were converted by the end of their high voltage set. This was Tweens' third night with Ex Hex, and they seemed to really love the start of the tour so far.

Their recorded songs seemed like they are about relationships... The theme continued to a couple of their new songs: "Cold Shoulder" was something about an ex-friend on Facebook and "Aches and Pains" was about waiting for someone to dance away.

If you like 90s grrrl music, like The Smears, Babes in Toyland, The Breeders, L7, you should definitely check out Tweens.

I've said this before, but I'm a big Helium fan, the band that featured Mary Timony. Although I never saw Helium, I did catch Timony when she toured in 2005, in support of her Ex Hex album. Of course, nearly ten years later, she would form a new band Ex Hex with Betsy Wright and Laura Harris.

As expected with bands with only one album, the trio played their entire album live... but throwing in a cover or two to stretch out the time for a full set. Most of the songs were sung by Timony, except Wright took over two songs on their set: "How You Got That Girl" and "Radio On".

With the constant touring, the girls looked completely comfortable on stage, often looking playful with their guitars and doing standard guitar poses. Like Tweens, Ex Hex rarely spoke, except thanking the crowd and saying how good it is to be back in Minneapolis (they were previously in town at the 7th Street Entry on October 24, 2014).

Sure, they don't sound like over sexualized Helium, but if you're into rock and roll fun, you should definitely check out Ex Hex. Their debut album Rips is out now on Merge Records. With the success of Ex Hex (compared to the low turnout from Mary Timony's 2005 show), it's only a matter of time before they release a sophomore album and come back to the Twin Cities.

The first of four bands, American Scarecrows drew in a lot of local supports from their fans, friends and family. Their brief set included tracks from their latest Yesteryear and their debut album Keep Your Devils Around. ...

Unlike other stationary music festivals like SXSW or Glastonbury, the Warped Tour (or rather Vans Warped Tour) is one of those rare travelling music festivals. Traditionally, the Warped Tour feature more punk-rock â€¦

Jonny Craig will be in Minneapolis on February 8th as part of his The Blueprint For Going In Circles Tour.

Known for starting as the lead vocalist for Seattle's post-hardcore band Ghost Runner on Third when he was only 16 years old, but by 2009, he decided to strike out on his with his solo album A Dream Is a Question You Don't Know How to Answer via Rise Records. Craig's latest release The Blueprint for Going in Circles is a collaborative compilation album by Jonny Craig, Kyle Lucas, and Captain Midnite, and will come out on January 27, 2015 via Gold Standard/Artery Recordings.

Staraoke is described as "a massive collection of songs ranging from metal to hiphop to punk to pretty much anything". By the sound of it, it's like Karaoke. So if you like singing, the event is free at the Clown Lounge (at the Turf Club).

Hostess of the event is Arzu, who you may know has as singer and guitarist of several local bands, including Selby Tigers, Lefty Lucy, and Strut & Shock, etc.

Details:

This Monday... Staraoke Karaoke starts up again in the Clown Lounge at the Turf Club!

It is, without a doubt, one of if not the best place to do some karaoke in StP/Mpls. They have a new sound system so your version of Bob Seeger's "Night Moves" will sound extra sweet!

We'll be doing it once a month there now so come on down and help us kick it off!

Doors open at 8pm but it'll kick off when we have enough sounds to start a rotation. They serve food until 11pm too!

TRASH FILM DEBAUCHERY
at Turf Club
Monday 01/05/15, 7pm (Free)turfclub.net

I have been to a few Trash Film Debauchery, I'm glad to see that they are still around.

If you're over 21 and have nothing to do on Monday, January 5th, they are having a free screening of Masters of the Universe (1987), starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man. Of course, if you're already a fan of the toy line, you've probably already seen the movie a few times... but it's always fun with an audience.

* NOTE: If you're not familiar with Arzu Gokcen, I may or may not have seen her band Selby Tigers in 2001 with the Donnas, but you may know her from Pink Mink (an semi-active band from Minneapolis). I am going to assume that Gokcen will be there (Trylon Microcinema on 01/21) to MC the event.

Dosh & Ghostband's first collaborative project, Def Kith, is out now for CD, cassette tape, Vinyl and mp3 purchases (Vinyls ship in January). Don't know about you, but when I see Kith, I think of Kids in the Hall.

Three time Grammy Award winner Ramsey Lewis (billed as Ramsey Lewis Electric Band) will be in Minneapolis for a two night residency (Wednesday, January 7th and Thursday, January 8th). Fans looking to get new releases from Lewis can turn to 2014 boxsets Ramsey Lewis Complete Recordings: 1957-1960 and Ramsey Lewis Complete Recordings: 1960-1962.

Opening up the show will be Earth, Wind & Fire's lead singer, Philip Bailey. The last news I received about Bailey, it was for his memoir called Shining Star: Braving the Elements of Earth, Wind & Fire (Viking; April 15, 2014).

Friday we have Those Darlins at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis. You might recall that we interviewed Jessi about the "controversial" album artwork and other things, so be sure to take a listen. â€¦

Those Darlins are back at the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, touring in support of their third studio album Blur the Line (out now on Oh Wow Dang).

Opening up were local Pink Mink and New York's Gambles (aka Matthew Daniel Siskin).

GAMBLES

Gambles is a one-man-folk singer, whose look and sound resemble a young Bob Dylan, but perhaps leaning closer to Leonard Cohen (which we'll get to later). He would often just take sing in the crowd, which would have been cool if people weren't talking so much (since his unplugged acoustic guitar can only produce so much sound).

Gambles Setlist

As you can see from his setlist, the majority of his songs were from his debut album Trust (released last month on Alternative Distribution Alliance), with a few exception, like the Cohen cover song, "Chelsea Hotel". Another thing is that he skipped "You Are The Truth" (which sounded like it was switched to the last song) because his girlfriend (Nola) requested "Animal".

We've covered about seven Those Darlins shows, and I've personally attended about five of those shows. This is the first time that I've seen the band with the new bassist, Adrian.

As expected, the band practically played all their new songs from their latest album Blur The Line, leaving a little room to fit in a couple of old singles ("Screws Get Loose", "Night Jogger", "Be Your Bro") and a couple of cover songs (including Alex Chilton's "Free Again" and V.U.'s "White Light/White Heat" for the encore).

"Screws Get Loose" received the best reaction from the fans, probably because it's an older song (note that no songs from their debut album were played), but that was played fairly early in. You can tell fans aren't familiar with the new material yet, despite a great "eye-popping" performance of "Mystic Mind" by Jessie.

Also, this was the second to their last night with Gambles, all support will be handled by Diane Coffee on November 2nd. So they dedicated "Why Can't I Change?" to Nola.

Those Darlins are currently on tour in support of Blur The Line. I suggest getting a copy of the latest album before you see them.

If you want to pick up your copy, head over to one of their BNLXFest happening on November 16 and 17. I believe both dates are at the Cause in Minneapolis. â€¦

BNLX are at it again, this time with their first full length LP, which is currently available for purchase at the Susstones website. You can also purchase it on their bandcamp. To celebrate their rowdy LP they are hosting BLNXFest at the Cause Spirits and Soundbar, LynLake, Minneapolis. Friday 11/16 & Saturday 11/17. Doors at 9:00 PM for both shows.

Itâ€™s a good showcase of the fuzzed out rockers we got n the twin cities; old and new alike.

Fury Things and Gloss are relatively new. Fury Things has an EP out at the moment and you can check it out at their Bandcamp and download it for whatever price you decide. Itâ€™s some good shoegaze-y garage rock. They are the special guests for Friday the 16th show.

Following suit is super brand new Gloss. They released their first single October 11th, 2012. You can catch it on their Bandcamp. It is also for â€œName your own priceâ€ sale that has become popular with up and coming bands. Gloss can be described as shoegaze or dream pop. Their new single kicks ass and is one of my favorite songs at the moment. Iâ€™m very excited to see them perform it live. They have been featured on the local show and they were Current "Song of the Day" last Friday the 9th.

If you havenâ€™t bought the new BNLX yet, you can listen to it at their Bandcamp.
They do have past EPâ€™s that they put out throughout the years. Here is a good sample of those EPs: